Anxiety at Work

[NayNay34]

I suffer from pretty severe aocial anxiety that stops me from completing normal everyday tasks like going grocery shopping alon but have been slowly improving lately except for in the work field. I started my new admin job almost 5 months ago and have extreme anxiety about attending each day. I have anxiety attacks before work and I’m in constant stress mode all day. My heart never calms down and I’ve got a constant twitch. I just can’t seem to chill out. Should I quit my job? Is it not the right field of work for me?

[Croix]

Dear NayNay34~

Welcome here to the Form. I noticed yo uhave had to wait a quite a while for a reply to your post. I'm sorry to see that, unfortunately it does happen from time to time and is a fault in the system, nothing to do with you personally or your subject matter. Very hard to have to keep waiting after all the worry and effort to put a first message in.

Having your social anxiety slowly improve must have been so encouraging, it is such a limiting thing to have to try to cope with. Then to find your job was hindering things must have been very discouraging.

Can I ask first off if you simply changed roles in an existing job, or started in a whole new job, which happened to be admin?

I guess nobody could give any advice on this without knowing a lot more, I have found that changing one position for another has not helped long-term as the same sort of things worried me wherever I was. I can see however if there are specific things you find hard to deal with then a change might be good.

As the person on the spot with the most information what are your feelings?

I'd also like to ask if you are under treatment for your anxiety condition? I found there was no way I could improve without proper medical support.

I also found the care and support of my family made a big difference - do you have anyone to care and understand?

Trying to deal with constant anxiety and attacks has for me been a two stage approach, for an attack as it happens trying to use breathing, and calming thoughts plus maybe an app like Smiling Mind have all helped me break out of a circle of damaging anxious thoughts.

Trying to lead a life that takes anxiety into account is important too. Trying to avoid what worrying situations one can, using exercise, nutrition and good sleep have all helped, as has having a daily routine of doing something to take my mind away and give me something I enjoy - does anything come to mind for you?

Look, I've only been talking some pretty general stuff, would you like to came back and say more?

Croix

[LavenderTea]

Hey NayNay34,

Often when people are experiencing anxiety, they experience a loop of negative thoughts, negative evaluations of the situation, and a whole lot of avoidance. When this happens, individuals with anxiety often avoid the situation that causes anxiety, and this only makes it worse, so I don't think that quitting your job is the best option for you.

You say that you've been slowly improving with your anxiety when going shopping and such, what's making that work for you? Is it something that you could also do for the work situation?

There's another thing you could consider as well. When working with anxiety, it's important to identify what's called "hot thoughts" - these are thoughts that are informed by emotional states. For example, if you're experiencing anxiety about going to work, that anxiety might lead to you thinking something like "I'm not good enough here" or "no one at work likes me". Identifying these types of thoughts is important, because then you can start working on fixing them. It is a good idea to write down these thoughts, and write down how you're feeling, and then challenge these thoughts. For example, if you think something like "no one at work likes me", ask yourself questions like "is that really true, is it everyone, or are there actually some people who do like you". Doing this with a friend of someone close can be helpful too, since they might be able to question these hot thoughts with you, since sometimes it not always clear.

It does seem like the anxiety is becoming a large part of your life, and is stopping you from doing certain things you might want to, so it might also be a good idea to talk to your GP about getting some professional help too.

Hope this helps!

LT.